Smart Strings Whole Show or Limited Effects

[Trepidati0n]

By the way, are these RGB LED pixels all what we would call "full wave", or do they vary?  

They are driven by DC power supplies, so they are full wave.

\dmc

Yes and no.  They are better than full wave (AC)...there is no wave (DC).  If RJ is using the chips I think he is using, the current is DC which means ZERO flicker...even if you have awesome eyes.

[RJ]

By the way, are these RGB LED pixels all what we would call "full wave", or do they vary?  

They are driven by DC power supplies, so they are full wave.

\dmc

Yes and no.  They are better than full wave (AC)...there is no wave (DC).  If RJ is using the chips I think he is using, the current is DC which means ZERO flicker...even if you have awesome eyes.

You are correct it is pure DC.

RJ

[JimWright]

I only got into this 2 years ago. So I went all LED lights. Since I wanted color depth, I did everything in 4 colors (RGBW). That gave me a lot of color depth to play with. This past year, I used CCRs for my leaping arches, and loved it. For this coming year, I am thinking of doing big 4 foot wreaths with 2 full sets of RGBs in a spiral pattern. That will give me lots of options. My goal for next year (if my bank account recovers) is to do a mega tree in RGB. After that, I will decide what else I will do. And of course, I  am waiting with bated breath for the LED TRICKS RGB replacement. That may really be my first real complete project.

[chrisatpsu]

They are better than full wave (AC)...there is no wave (DC). If RJ is using the chips I think he is using, the current is DC which means ZERO flicker...even if you have awesome eyes.

I thought when you turn on, and off DC, you square wave?   

[tbone321]

Well, more or less but that has nothing to do with this.  While full on, LED's running on AC current still flash at either 60 or 120 times a second depending on if they are either half or full wave.  LED's running full on on DC don't flash at all.  Now when it comes to dimming, there are many ways to vary the voltage in the DC world, especially with low current devices.  Since LED's are current sensitive devices, a variable constant current device will dim them with no flashing at all.

[Trepidati0n]

They are better than full wave (AC)...there is no wave (DC). If RJ is using the chips I think he is using, the current is DC which means ZERO flicker...even if you have awesome eyes.

I thought when you turn on, and off DC, you square wave?  

In this case you are not turning it on an off to get an intensity level (like the original lynx).  It is not being PWM'd.  It is a dc current mode controller.  In short, the "chip" inside the pixel is acting like a variable resistor with the LED and the 12V source power.